Trees versus pipes

Trees provide pleasant shade around the home and are

friendly to our environment, but their roots can create havoc
with the water and sewer system.
Tree roots are responsible for the majority of Melbournes
sewer and drain blockages and these problems are most
common in residential properties. They can also damage
buildings, footpaths, fences and pipes.
This problem can be avoided if care is taken when selecting
trees and deciding where to plant them.
Who is responsible?
Once a tree root nds its way into a sewer pipe, it may grow
into a brous mass, spreading long distances, reducing ow
and eventually causing blockages and pipe damage. Property
owners are responsible for maintaining all plumbing xtures
up to the connection with South East Waters sewer branch,
which is usually inside the property boundary. Tree roots can
also damage water mains and property service pipes, which
can result in leaks. In some instances, we may remove the
offending tree to repair damage or prevent future damage.
Planting in nature strips
If you would like to plant trees in your nature strip you need
to rst gain permission from your local council and then
contact South East Water for the location of the sewer and
water mains.
You should also consider the size of the tree when it reaches
full maturity and take into account any hazardous situations
such as overhead power lines, potential blind spots, or your
neighbours property, paving and drains.
Prevention is better than cure
Before you plant trees, make sure you know where the
pipes on your property are. To nd out, you can purchase a
property sewerage plan from South East Water. Call 131 694
or visit our customer service counter at 20 Corporate Drive,
Heatherton.
When selecting trees, visit your local nursery for advice. They
will assist you in choosing the appropriate trees or shrubs for
your garden, and more importantly those trees you should
avoid planting near pipes. There are no hard and fast rules
but there are, however, certain problem species that require
care when deciding where to plant.
Tree roots: a growing problem
Preventing pipe damage from tree roots
Apple tree
Australian indigo
Banksia: red, Caleys, hill, Dryandra leaved, heath-leaved,
bull, hookers, coast, nodding, desert, round-fruited
Bottlebrush: swamp, gravel, prickly, Captain Cook,
crimson, Gawler hybrid, kings park, lilac, SA red, lemon,
ery, green, stiff-leaved, willow, Albany, needle or bearded,
weeping, goldelds
Bower plant
Broad-leaf sea urchin
Broombush
Bush germander
Bushy cherry
Cabbage tree (giant dracaena)
Cassia
Ceanothus
Chinese or golden abelia
Claw ower
Common escallonia
Creeping coprosma
Cutleaf hibbertia
Cypress: Swan River
Dusty Miller (Centourea Cineraria)
Emu bush: magenta, spreading, spotted,
twin-leaf (weeooka), white (owering lignum), silvery,
common (tar bush)
Evergreen oleaster
Evergreen spindle
Feather owers
Fiddlewood
Fire ower
Firethorn: lalande, Nepal, yellow-berry
Florida yellow-trumpet
Flowering: crabapple, almonds, plums, apricots, cherries,
peaches
Gardenia
Geraldton wax
Golden grey mulga
Golden rain tree
Golden stalk
Golden tip
Grampians thryptomene
Grass tree
Grevillea: cats claw, silver-leaved, rough, fern-leaved, ame,
smooth, toothbrush, prickly, lavender, desert, rosemary, royal
Grey mulga
Gum: SA cup, Diels, red-capped, Lindsay, fuschia, rose,
weeping, pear-fruited
Gungurru
Hakea: oval-leaved, pincushion, Muellers, grass-leaved,
yellow, Christmas, beaked, willow, furrowed, furze,
wavy-leaved, bottle brush
Hawthorn: Lavalle, May tree, Chinese, pink india
Hibiscus
Hillock bush
Himalayan cotoneaster
Hoary blue bush
Honeysuckle
Hopbush: narrow-leaved, sticky (Ake Ake)
Jacaranda
Judas tree
Kangaroo thorn
Karo
Large-leaf bush pea
Avoid planting these varieties within 2 metres of pipes
Problem plant varieties to avoid within 2 metres of pipes
Please note that this list is intended as a helpful guide but does not claim to be comprehensive. If any plant on your property
interferes with our water or sewer main we have the legal right to remove it under the Water Act 1989.
Laurustinus
Lilac chaste tree
Lily pilly: blue lily pilly
Limestone fuchsia
Mallee: square-fruited, Southern Cross, SA coastal,
tail sand, slender-leaved, curly, course-leaved, kruses,
round-leaved, bell-fruited, Ooldea, Kingscote, red (morel),
four-winged, Websters
Mirror bush
Murchison claw ower
Myrtle: juniper, snow, fringe, lemon-scented, mauve
crepe, pink crepe, mallee honey, cross-leaved honey,
upright cross-leaved honey, granite honey, scarlet honey,
slender honey, yellow-owered grey honey, western honey,
limestone honey, graceful honey, rough honey, Steedmans
honey, thyme honey, broombush honey, Wilsons honey
Native apricot (weeping pittosporum)
Needle bush
Net bush: rough-leaved, crimson, wooly
New Zealand Kohuhu
Ngaio
Nitre bush
Oleander
Orange browallia (marmalade bush)
Orchid tree (bauhinia)
Pineapple guava
Pink rice ower (dark and light pink)
Pink velvet bush
Queensland poplar (bleeding heart tree)
Red parrot pea
Red templetonia (cockies tongues)
Robin redbreast bush
Rock rose: laurel-leaved rock rose
Rose of the west (mottlecah)
Rosemary
Saltbush: coast, old man, silver, berry
Scarlet kunzea
September bush
Showy: dryandra, groundsel
Silver marlock (tallerack)
Silver tree
Sky ower (duranta)
Slaty sheoak
Slender myoporum (weeping boobialla)
Slender velvet bush
Spanish broom
Spirea
Sturts desert rose
Swamp mallet
Swan River pea bush
Tea tree: green, tantoon, Victoria coastal, silky,
round-leaved, New Zealand
Teddy bear bush
Thorn: Washington, Mexican
Tree aloe
Turkey bush
Veronica
Violet mist ower
Wattle: gold dust, sandhill, boxleaf, wallowa, thorn,
knife-leaved, WA coastal, drummond, gossamer, gland,
hairy pod, at, hakea, sticky, Flinders Range, umbrella
brush, sallow, Menzels, notable, Queensland silver, golden,
nealie, needle bush, silver, round-leaved, hard-leaf,
SA coastal, Mudgee, spiny, hindmarsh, varnish, hairy,
elegant or bramble, dwarf nealie
Western myall
White cloud tree
Wilga
Winged yellow-trumpet
Yellow kangaroo paw
Yellow kowhai
Avoid planting these varieties within 2 metres of pipes
Alder: Italian, English, black, evergreen
American hackberry
Ash: golden, manna, velvet or Arizona, mountain, Rowan
Bangalow palm
Banksia: Ashbys, birds nest, burdetts, silver, rewood,
water, orange, acorn, saw, showy
Barberry
Blackbutt: Clelands, Dundas, Kondinin, Le Souefs
Blackwood
Boobialla
Bottlebrush: scarlet
Box: long-leaved, river, mallee, silver, brush, elder,
broad-leaved
Brush cherry
Carob tree
Chestnut: cape, Spanish
Chinese elm
Chinese pistachio
Chinese tallow tree
Chinese wisteria
Coolibah: smooth-barked
Cotoneaster; silver leaf cotoneaster
Cypress: white, sand or Bribie Island, black, slender, shrub,
Arizona
Dry land tea tree
Dundas mahogany
Emu bush: Bignonia, Eurah, Berrigam, long-leaf
Fiddlewood
Fig: creeping, variegated rusty
Firethorn
Flame tree
Flowering: almond, pear, tamarisk
Gimlet: silver, two-winged
Gilga
Glossy privet
Grape vines (including glory vine)
Gum: Burdett, WA coastal, Kangaroo Island narrow-
leaved, SA coastal, pink, WA scarlet owering gum, fuchsia,
brushy blue, rough barked ribbon, Port Lincoln, pink
owering blue, large-fruited SA blue, nodding, silver-leaved
mountain, gimlet, Wallangarra white, willow, Steedmans,
yellow-owering, hybrid coral, Coolgardie, lemon-
owering, sweet gum, water (Kanooka), white
Gungurru
Hakea: sweet
Hibiscus: desert rose (red-centred), native, lilac
Holm oak
Honey locust
Hybrid ame tree
Indian coral tree
Irish strawberry
Ironbark: narrow-leaved, red-owered red
Jacaranda
Japanese privet
Jerusalem thorn
Judas tree
Juniper
Kafr plum
Kurrajong: desert
Laburnum
Laurel: Brisbane, Queensland
Liquidambar
Maidenhair tree
Mallee: Kangaroo Island, white, desert, brown, Victoria
desert, rough fruited, silver mallee apple, white, Dumosa,
Kingsmill, grey, red, thick-leaved, Ravensthorpe, box,
swamp, uted horn, green
Avoid planting these varieties within 3.5 metres of pipes
Problem plant varieties to avoid within 3.5 metres of pipes
Please note that this list is intended as a helpful guide but does not claim to be comprehensive. If any plant on your property
interferes with our water or sewer main we have the legal right to remove it under the Water Act 1989.
Marlock: limestone, long-owered, black
Mealy stringybark (argyle)
Mississippi sugarberry
Mock orange
Moort: round-leaved
Morrel (Boongul)
Mulga
Myrtle: dwarf or scrub apple, smooth-barked apple, olive-
leaved honey, alternate-leaved honey, bracelet honey,
Diosma-leaved honey, Chenile honey, ax-leaved honey,
common, WA willow (peppermint tree)
New Zealand Christmas tree
New Zealand laurel
Oak: black
Octopus / umbrella tree or Australian ivy palm
Oleander
Pagoda tree
Paperbark: swamp, SA swamp, broad-leaved
Pine: Port Jackson, Swiss mountain, mountain, brown,
plum
Pink Marri
Pittosporum: sweet, variegated
Powder bark
Prickly paperbark
Pyramid tree
Queensland bean or ebony tree
Queensland lace bark
River cooba
Salt or Sargents Mallett
Sheoak: weeping, drooping, rose
Silk tree
Silver birch
Silver peppermint
Small leaf linden
Southern hackberry
Spring bloodwood
Sweet bursaria (Christmas box)
Sycamore
Sydney red gum
Tulip tree
Varnish tree
Waddy
Walnut
Water bush
Wattle: Wallangarra, raspberry jam, Cootamundra, orange,
silver, queen, green, fringed, Oswalds, Broughton willow or
wattle, cedar
White cedar
White wood
Woolum (native frangipani)
Yate: bushy, warty
Yorrell
To contact us
Phone
General enquiries 131 694
Account enquiries 131 851
Faults and emergencies 132 812 (24/7)
Hearing impaired service 133 677
ask for 131 851
Interpreter service (03) 9209 0129
Head Office
20 Corporate Drive
Heatherton VIC 3202 Australia
southeastwater.com.au
Avoid planting these varieties within 3.5 metres of pipes
SEW_28